Midyear Showcase - Everything to know for your Best Event Yet!

Hello, friends, I'm Amanda Barr.

And I'm Rebecca Lou Brennan. And welcome to Dance Principals United, the podcast.

Together, we are passionate about helping studio owners with the business of running their studio.

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This is the Dance Principles United Podcast. Hi, friends, and welcome to the Dance Principles United Podcast. Beck, my friend, how are you? Have you recovered from expo?

I don't know that I have. We're still on such a high. It was so amazing and epic. Everyone had the best time. Thanks to everyone for the amazing feedback about it. But yeah, I'm still, still bouncing. It was so awesome, right?

It was so amazing. You know, we were talking off air before. It's kind of like an end of year concert, right. I always felt took me a good 10 days to come down after end of year concert to kind of recover because you spend the first few days, you know, still like riding that adrenaline high still, you know, doing all the social posts and the thank you emails and all of those things that have got to go out. And I always feel it takes me a good 10 days to kind of recover from it. I feel the same for Expo.

Oh, totally. I think it has been 10 days today, but it, it has crazy. Like it's just such a whirlwind event. But yeah, we met so many amazing people and just had the best time. It was so awesome.

It was so, so good. But hey, we're here to talk about mid year showcases because we're all moving on to the next thing in our studio. So we're super excited to talk about MIDI showcases because it is the perfect time to start doing it. But should we start with a, what is a MIDI showcase? Do you want to kind of dive into that Beck?

Yeah, for sure. So we talk about like a mid year showcase being a much lesser concert than your end of year showcase. So. Absolutely, yeah. Some things that we talk to our clients about is like doing it with their uniforms on instead of making parents buy a costume. Maybe doing it in a lesser venue like a school hall or a basketball court and just still having a great event, but just making it more downplayed, right?

Absolutely. And I think a little bit more casual and fun. And then I, I think sometimes our end of year concerts, you know, people see them as quite a formal event. Right. Especially if you use a proper theater. You know, a theater is quite formal. The, you know, even just having like the house lights off, all of that kind of stuff, it makes it quite a formal event where People don't want to talk, they don't want to do too much cheering, except between dances. I really love the vibe of a mid year concert or a MIDI showcase and it being a bit more like, hey, we're at a football game or you know, that kind of a vibe. I really enjoy that and I think it can be such a good thing for your business.

It is. And like connection is where it's at and community and you know, at my mid year, Amanda, our parents get dressed up, crazy for it. We have like dress up competitions. We have a dance off with the parents. Like it's so fun. Like and I think parents. Do you want to get into that? You know, because if you look at the football, they all get dressed up in the colors of what they want their football team is and they have the pom poms and they do all the things for that because they're fans. And you want your fans to be dressing up for your business.

Absolutely. I love that so much. I saw at yours last year, a lot of the parents had those little like, you know, like paddle pop sticks made with their student. Their child's face. That was so cute because they do that for the, you know, for the bro, for example, when they're in the grand final. So why not let the dancers have that experience as well? That's so, so cute.

I don't think you described that very well, but it's like not a paddle pop stick. It's like a thing bigger than your head. Yeah.

Like a mask.

Yeah. Yep. They got them printed out at easy signs and yes. So crazy.

So with all their, like their. Yeah, it's not a paddle pop stick. It's definitely bigger than that.

Massive. Those massive heads, you know, the heads that they have that football, like there's massive. Yeah. Core.

You'd be shocked to know I don't often go to the football back.

I know, but like you've seen on tv.

Do I, do I watch football on tv? I don't have any boys in this house. This is an all girls house. This is not a football house in my house. But I'm sure our listeners know what we're talking about and like how cute is that? I love that so much. Your parents all had like so signs like, you know, little Susie's number one supporter. Go Team Eights. Like all of that kind of stuff. What a great community environment. That, that's encouraging, you know and I think MIDI concert can be for so many things. It can be for that community engagement. It can also be a great Profit center, right?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, as long as you get a venue that's a bit smaller, I think you can charge less for your tickets, but. But probably sell more tickets. So yeah, I think it can make great profit.

Absolutely. You know, we met with some of our studio growth club members and some of them were doing like really decent amount of profit per student, which was really interesting to kind of know. So I think it's a great way to do that. It's also a great way to educate your parents because you have them all like a captive audience in front of you. And I love nothing more than at a mid year concert than getting up and spending, speaking on stage and speaking about, you know, the benefits of ballet, for example, or why the kids should do an acro class or what is lyrical. Because educating your audience about that, you know, allows for so many more upsells and allows for the kids to take more classes because sometimes the parents just have no idea what lyrical is.

Right, exactly. And I did this last year because we wanted to up our ballet and spoke to them about how ballet is the most important thing that they do if they ever want to dance or if they want to get great at dance and it's a foundation and told them all of that stuff. And guess how many people we had enroll into ballet after that? Amanda?

Oh, you know, I want to know.

32.

32 students that took up ballet because of the way you spoke about it.

Correct. That's insane, right?

That is so incredible. And I think that shows the power of Midgie's showcase because you can sit there with your, you know, with your grade four class and talk about why they do the port au bras and what that means and how that, you know, enhances their performance in their jazz troop or whatever that is for you. Right. Like there's so many great things to be able to talk about.

And I, I was chatting to our SGC members about this yesterday and I said, I feel like kids having to wait until the end of the year concert and that's their one performance for the year. That's a long time.

Absolutely.

Wait for that. And I feel like I was thinking, you know, I always relate things back to Phoenix, but Phoenix hates training for soccer, hates it with passion, loves the games. So he's happy to go to training to do the games. But I'm like, we aren't giving our dance kids the game experience unless they're competitive. So if they're a rec kid, they only get one game a year at the end of Year concert. Just a long time.

And that's absolutely. And that's, you know, that's a shame for the kids because they get bored with the training. Right. Like inverted commas, the training, the class, it's the same thing. And it's also sad for the parents because the parents want to see a child's progress. They want to see, you know, how they move along the scale. Just like they do at a football game. Right. Because at a football game every single week they get to see the progress.

Yes. So I think that in itself is a great reason to do mid year. I also don't think it's too late to start a mid year. Like if you, if, if you're listening to this today and you're like, oh, but it's, it's April. I don't know if I should do a mid year. You can just hire a rule. I feel like 10 weeks out is plenty of time to give a parent notice that they're going to do a mid year concert.

Absolutely.

One of the things we always teach is no opt ins. Right Amanda? Like don't ask if they're doing it, just say they are doing it.

Absolutely. The opt in thing. Like for both mid year and end of year, you know, if you have signed up for the netball team, you don't get asked if you're going to the game. It is presumed that you're going to the game, that here is the time of the game. You will be there unless you tell me otherwise because you're on a holiday but you don't actually write that, that's just a like presumption. So the same thing with mid year concert and I love that it isn't too late, it's April at the moment, you can get it together really quickly. End of term two is the perfect time to do a mid year. So if someone's listening to this back and they're like, oh, but I can't because you know we're working towards exams and so I don't have time to teach my kids a dance because we're working towards, we've got our ballet exams in July or whatever that is, what do you say to that and how do you kind of get around that or what suggestions would you have from a teaching point of view?

Yeah, for sure. I think you could just demonstrate two of the exercises. I think that would be totally fine. And that's it, that's all you need to do. Maybe they run from one place on the stage to the other and you put a bit of Interlude music in and you practice that with them.

Edit the music through, like put it on a loop, whatever that is.

If that's even too hard, just be on the microphone and say, okay. Grade three ballet will now demonstrate their porto bra. Grade three ballet will now demonstrate their petty allegro. And now they'll demonstrate their grand delegro at the end. See you later. Grade 3 ballet, like so simple. Parents would love to see that as well. I know my parents love to watch their exam work after they've done their exams. We make a big deal of that. And I think it's good for them to see what the kids are achieving and where they're at with that stuff.

Absolutely. And I love a MIDI concert so much more than like a viewing day because a lot of people go, oh, we have a viewing week, so therefore we don't need a mid year concert. But what about dad that's working at 4 o' clock on Tuesday afternoons? Like, because that's what most parents like. They've dropped their kid at dancing and they're trying to juggle work around. And what about the fact that there's not really enough room for the grandparents to come in at the studio or they're still at work or, you know, the grandparents don't want to come five days to watch five different dance classes because you, or you know, the last 10 minutes of different classes that are all spread out across the week, like, that's all really, really hard to manage. I can't think of anything worse. Like my, my girls usually do, you know, four classes in a row. If I was invited to the last 10 minutes of every class, I'd have to sit there in between. Like, that is so annoying. As a parent, I'd so much rather go on a Sunday for an hour and watch all their performances.

But even sitting there for four hours, how boring. Like, that would be so boring. Like if you were allowed to watch the entire class. That is torture.

That is torture. And you know, like, obviously you do it, but you wouldn't be bringing other people, you wouldn't be bringing the siblings, you wouldn't, you know, it. That's really, really hard. So I think, really think about it from a parent's perspective and what they want to see. And to me, I'd so much rather go to a Sunday at a basketball. Like, you know, so this is how we do it. A basketball court on a Sunday. It's an hour show. It's really fun for the grandparents, for the siblings, it's like a bit of a vibe. It's fun. I'd rather go do that and see all of my children's routines in that one show and then be, like, done with it than have to sit there and go to all of their classes for the week, for example.

Yep, absolutely. And I think, as well, like parents, you know, it doesn't feel like it's the game then either. If it's just done in the classroom, it doesn't feel like it for the kids.

Not exciting or special exciting.

It's nothing special about it. Exactly. I think parents would rather see their kids get up on stage and do something that's a bit out of the ordinary, if that makes sense.

I agree. I agree. Something special and giving it a moment. All right, so what are some of your top tips for making a MIDI showcase? If you. Incredible. Beck.

I think my best top tip is to make it Instagrammable, so, you know, make sure that there's places where the kids can get photos. Doing a photo wall or doing some balloons, something like that. Make sure there's places for parents to tag and ask the parents to tag you. That's such a thing that lots of people we talk to don't do. But just asking for the tag is so, so important. And then I have a really random top tip. Amanda blew people's minds the other day, but it is so ra. So putting tap shoes on children first, especially preschoolers, because they're the hardest shoes to get on. I know that sounds so simple, but it's such a. Like, it's such a game changer to not have to do the buckle and the tap shoe and to actually have them start in that. And then my teacher the other day was like, why don't we do that in class? Why are we doing jazz then tap when it's so hard to put their tap shoes on? Why aren't we asking children to arrive in tap shoes? And I was like, that is so obvious.

Absolutely. That makes so much more sense. Right. Especially when they're doing like a tap jazz combo class or something like that.

Did you always do the jazz first in a tap jazz?

I didn't do. I didn't do jazz tap combos, so I've never had that issue personally.

Right.

But yeah, I can totally say why. Because tap shoes are hard to do up. Like, yeah, really hard. Absolutely. So, so good. I love those top tips. And, you know, to me, the Instagramable moments, the big thing for me is doing it in uniform. Like, I've spoken to people before where they're like, oh, but I'd love To do costume. My parents love costume. I'm like yeah, cool. But my biggest benefit of Midgie Showcase for me was the fact that the I could use that content. I could use those photos for promotions for an entire year because they were in uniform. And so I actually didn't get photographer at the end of your concert like which is you know, shock horror. Some people are like oh my God. I'm like because I can't do anything with those photos myself because I don't love using promotional photos on stage like that. That didn't work for my brand. I don't think it's actually a great way to. Because I think it like scares people off. It's a bit Dance mommy. Right. I think photos of kids in uniform that's a bit more natural works so much better for promotional. So MIDI concert was like my content day where I would have professional photographers taking not so much on stage photos, some of those but more so behind the scenes photos. Photos of the kids, you know, giving a high five to their teacher. Photos of them saying hi like all of that stuff and in their uniform and in their branding like that is such gold for marketing. Right?

So smart. And I know like that you always did a merch release just before mid year and we do too, something special because one, lots of people will buy it to wear at the concert so it's great profit. But two then you know they're all in the cool new uniform as well. Like it's just no brainer really.

Right, Absolutely. It's such a good choice to do it and you know we always had so many parents. You know I was talking to one of our members the other day that so many of our parents when they had like our preschool tutu for example, they would always time it so they bought a new one right before mid year concert. So it was always like a fresh like if they did three years worth of preschool for example, they always wanted the fresh one, you know the mid year week so that it looked really good for the mid year photos. Sounds like I loved that it was such a a thing that kind of became. And so many parents would go like oh I always buy a new one for mid year concert. Oh I always want one that because they lose their stiffness and all of that kind of stuff of the the chore and I think that's such a clever thing. So I think if you're ever bringing in a new uniform to bring it in for mid year concert is such a vibe because the kids all want it. They're like Oh, I want to look good for mid year concert. So it's the perfect time to buy it, right?

I love it. It's like how you always buy the new school uniform for school photos. It's the exact same thing, right? Like yes. So, so smart. Any other tips for a samander?

I think it's important to make it really casual and fun. I think number one, I think the studio owner should be emceeing it always or someone in that position because it should be casual and you know, to me and I think you do the same Becket, yours. I was always the one on MC going and it was okay for like little mistakes. All right. Susie's just changing her shoes. She won't be a second.

All right.

The jazz class. Oh look, now they're ready. Let's hear it for jazz. Grade two. Whatever it was. I think that really brings your personality and brings you to the front of your studio as the figurehead which is so important for your sales and your standing in the community. So I think that's really, really important. I do like, you know, giving all the kids special moments. So we do a red carpet. You do that as well at the end where every child has a moment to come down so as, as their, you know, performance in their routine, they have another moment to shine. And whether that's a finale or a one at a time red carpet kind of moment, I think that's such a, a special thing for our families, don't you think?

I also think trying to let everyone have a turn in front like yes, just at mid year concert it should be everyone has a turn and allowing that opportunity for them to get that turn. Because parents do want to be able to see their kids and absolutely they don't want their kids to stuck at the back the whole time. So training your staff on that's really important.

Absolutely. You know, I had a whole session the other day about making sure that you put your expectations on your teachers, the choreography expectations and putting that on them. Now if you're planning your mid year concert, everyone must, you know, for me it was everyone must have a turn in the front. No one is allowed to be off stage at mid year concert. Routines have to finish on stage because I want that photo at the end. You know, I had very specific things that they had to hit. It had to be between 2 minutes and 2 minutes 30 and they were like what I put in, you know, and whatever it is for you. Right. But you know, training your staff on hitting those goals, I guess and also explaining the why to that, you know, I didn't love having small groups on stage. Even though like, let's be honest, usually visually that looks better sometimes and it's a great choreography tip for you know, performance groups or whatever. But mid year concert isn't the time for that.

I agree, I agree. I love that. And I love that you're thinking about training your staff in that and putting those expectations. Also love that you said two or two minutes 30. Like I just feel like sometimes the routines drag on and on and on for no reason.

I hate long routines. I'm such a. Like 2 minutes 30 tops and get.

Off the stage literally. Like that's enough. That's plenty for them to see their child do a few things. I think we overthink that. Parents don't think that longer is better. They get bored and they actually get over it. You want them, you'd rather leave them wanting more. Right. Than sitting there going kill me now, get me out of here. Like it's just such a nightmare having to watch things for so long, right?

Oh absolutely, absolutely. Hey, I'd love to ask you one more question. Question. What do you charge for your mid year concert ticket wise? Is that a hard question to answer? And it's going to be dependent on your venue?

Yeah, we do so many of them. My preschool, I'm pretty Sure we charge 35 but it is quite a high end venue.

Yeah.

And then my troop, I think we just charge 20 because it's quite a low end venue and we do a circus AC room mid year as well. And that's probably in between those two. So sorry, that's a really random answer.

No, I think that's great to know because people need to know the price because obviously it is dependent on your venue and your costings for that and what's appropriate.

Yes. And I think that's where people go, oh, how much are you charging for mid year? And then they want to copy each other. But you actually do need to work out what your venue cost is, your staffing costs for the day, all your other expenses that are going to happen. Then make yourself a profit. Work out how many kids you've got. How many tickets do you think they'll sell each? 3. Each usually is what we will would work it out to be. And then you can actually make an educated decision on that instead of just going oh well Joe blogs down the roads charging 20 so I'm going to charge 20 because that's. It's not really relevant.

Absolutely. I love that. I think that's so, so valuable. And personally for me, I think that, you know, the venue choice is really, really important. I think, I think I say too often studios just going for like an easy venue choice. Right. Which isn't always the best or the cheapest. So really like do your research, go see a heap, like take the time, go and look at a whole heap of venues and think outside the box. Because you know, the profit can be very different based on which venue you choose. The vibe can be very different. What you can charge for tickets. I loved being able to charge less for midget concert tickets. I really loved that I could keep it quite low.

Yeah.

So. But I do think like, you know, think a little bit outside the box. Like, you know, for me, I. I ran, I was in a basketball stadium and I loved that that worked really well because it had the tiered seating that was like, you know, the bench seating, kind of tiered seating. And we put tarkette down and we built wings and a back stage. And that worked really, really well for us because we could keep it low. It was like different kind of vibe. And then the theater experience at the end of year was very different. But yes. Yeah, I don't know, I think sometimes you've got to go like searching for those venues, whether that's a church or a school or a basketball stadium or a community center. You know, it's not just like googling theaters in my area. Oh, there's just that one theater I always go to.

Yep, yep, exactly. I've been chatting to so many different clients about this this week, Amanda, and giving them different ideas. But you know, a lot of schools have halls like you said. We use a basketball court for one of ours as well. So yeah, there's lots, there's, there lots of options out there if you go looking.

Absolutely. If you're watching us on YouTube, I've got like something buzzing around my microphone and I'm like spend the whole time trying to like squat, flap it away. So you'll have to excuse me, I.

Thought you were fanning yourself.

No, I've got like a bug that's like keeps flying into the light because I've got a light on me and it's just not working for me today. So you'll have to excuse me.

Anyways, that's a great way to finish up with your big bug.

Absolutely. Hey, we'd love to know if you've thinking about doing a mid year concert and you're inspired by this. We have heaps of tutorials in Dance Principles United Tribe about mid year concert. And we hope you've. We've inspired you to do a Midgie showcase.

Absolutely, guys. So have a think about it. Inboxes. If you need any help, we're always here for all of you. And yeah, we will chat to you all next week. Have an amazing week. Bye.

See you.

Bye.

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